The Young and the Hiccup
by CoronaCrown
Summary: The kittens will die if they're left out in the rain. Modern AU.
1. It Was Dark and Stormy

Rain patterned against the sidewalk as Hiccup walked down the street. Along the sidewalk were square patches of dirt where trees had grown large and taller than some of the buildings and stores throughout the street. As such, the scent of petrichor permeated the air since it was he first rain of summer; he loved that smell.

After spending time at the library for an assignment, He decided to walk back home instead of taking the bus. The late afternoon light covered by the clouds made the town look darker since the lampposts hadn't turned on yet.

Hiccup wondered if the lights were set on a timer to turn on and off at a given point of the day, and if so how it managed when the seasons changed and the days got longer or shorter. Would they still turn on a six at night even if there was sun left? Or would they turn off at five even if the sun had yet to rise?

These thoughts pondered him as he continued down the street, taking the time to peer through the windows as he walked across the street from the Lucky Cat Cafe. Tadashi was cleaning the window from inside. Upon seeing his classmate and younger friend, Tadashi waved. Hiccup waved back. Hiro was probably up in his room, working on another bot for the robotics club, which the three of them were a part of.

He passed a bakery and a small bookstore, which sold classical and modern novels. Elsa liked to go there a lot, she was an avid bookworm. Anna was a regular at the bakery, ordering plenty of chocolate for her and her sister.

A dirt trail lead to the woods next to the town. Merida went there plenty a week for archery practice, and Rapunzel sometimes rode her family horse there.

He walked past the path and shuddered. It gotten really cold, which was odd for midsummer. He walked past an alley between two building when a noise made him stop.

Taking a few steps back, Hiccup looked down the alley. There was a single light on over a door that led to one of the buildings, the side exit for a bar that none of them were old enough to go into, and it dimly illuminated the path. Trying to tune out the pouring of the rain, he listened again.

Sure enough, there it was. It was soft and weak, but it definitely sounded like a mewling cat. Maybe more than one.

A cat out in the cold and rain like this would surely die. He hunched his jacket over his shoulders to steady himself and entered the alley. He crouched next to some trash bins that smelled strongly of alcohol and food as he took his phone out. Brightening the illumination all the way up, he shines it around the area until he found a small box.

The box contained six kittens and a larger cat. The bigger one was probably the mother, and the smaller her litter. They were all shivering, the kittens mewling weakly as their mother licked them clean from the dripping rain.

The cat caught his eyes and growled menacingly, as if threatening Hiccup to not touch her children.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," Hiccup promised. Still keeping his phone on, he gently reached for the saggy box to try and pull it out into the open.

The mother cat reacted before he could, lashing out and scratching his finger. He recoiled and hissed just as the mother did.

It stung, but it wasn't enough to warrant bleeding.

The mother rested its head against its hungry litter.

"I want to help you. Please." He waited a moment before trying again. This time, the cat didn't scratch him. She didn't even move. "Are you okay?"

Fear bubbled in his chest. He didn't care if he bled for real, he reached out and gently jostled the mother cat, hoping she would react.

"H-hey! Please wake up."

She didn't move.

With no parent to attack at him, Hiccup returned his phone to his pocket and picked the box up, being careful to not shake it too much or hurt the kittens any more than they already were.

His face was wet, and he didn't know if it was because of the rain or if he was crying.

He jogged back up the street, past the trail and bakery and cafe. He ran into the empty lot of a small vet clinic, bursting through the doors by kicking it open.

"Please, help! I don't think they'll last much longer," he cried. He set the box on the desk as the woman behind it looked into it.

"Oh, my goodness!" She didn't stop to ask any questions. She took the soggy cardboard box and took it to the door in the office she was in. It probably led to the vet themselves.

Hiccup looked around. He had never been in here before. There was a pinup board with papers. Some of them were lost or missing pet posters, with bits of paper with phone numbers to tear off should the animal be found. There was a pet of the month; it looked like this place was also an adoption center. There was a list of dates and times where children could play with the animals, which would also be an opportunity to adopt them.

He sat down in on of the available chairs and thought. He didn't know what to do next. Would they ask him any questions? Would they want to know where he got them, or if they were his? He doubted the mother cat survived. Her whole body seemed limp throughout the entire trip here.

After a while, his phone rang. He took it out and saw that it was his father. "Hello?"

 _"Hiccup! Where are you! You said you'd be back by seven! What's happened?"_

He looked at the time on his phone and saw that he'd been sitting here for over half an hour.

 _"–was worried sick!"_ Stoick was saying. _"I called your friend Jack, but he said he hadn't seen you since school today!"_

"Dad, I'm sorry." He was surprised to hear that his voice was cracking, and even more nasally than usual.

Stoick seemed to have caught on to that. "Son? Are you okay? What's happened?"

Hiccup told him the truth. He explained that he was still waiting to see what the vet had to say about the kittens, and what would happen to the mother. He needed to know what was going to happen.

Stoick was silent before he spoke. _"All right, son,"_ he said. _"I'll be over and wait for you. Down the street from the cafe your friend works at, yes?"_

"Yes."

 _"Okay. I'll be over soon. And son?"_

Already prepared to hang up, Hiccup brought the phone back to his ear. "Yeah, Dad?"

 _"I'm proud that you did the best you could. Your mother would be as well. She had a fondness for cats."_

Hiccup remembered the stories. How she spent her whole life with cats. When she was a child, a teenager, when she moved out, when she married Stoick and was pregnant with him.

They weren't all the same cat, of course, but she'd have the same one since college. It stayed with them up until he was born. He was born way too early and at the cost of his life, his mother died. The cat seemed to have been grieving and it died a few weeks later.

Hiccup used to ask for a cat when he was younger, but Stoick always the same things. The house was too large. They couldn't afford to care for one. He wasn't ready for the responsibility. He was maybe allergic.

As he grew up, Hiccup learned that those excuses had always been just that. Stoick didn't want to be reminded of the loss with a cat, an animal that Valka adored her whole life. And Hiccup didn't want to hurt his father, so a few years ago, he stopped asking.

He finally hung up. A few minutes after the call, the door on the visitor's side opened and a man wearing a white doctor's coat stepped out. "Did you bring the litter?"

"Y-yeah. They were in an alley. I heard them crying out when I walked by." He saw that the vet look hesitant to continue on. "What happened?"

"Let me ask you a few questions first."

They both sat down in the seats and the man began to write on a paper as he asked Hiccup some questions. How many were in the box when he found them. What street was the alley at. Was the mother alive when he found them. Were any of the kittens not moving. Did any of them look healthier than the others, or weaker.

He answered each one patiently, waiting until the end of it until he asked again. "What happened to the kittens?"

The vet sighed. "Only one of them's alive. It's being fed now, but I doubt it'll survive any more than a few more days."

Only one. And even then, it may not survive.

"Can I see it?"

The vet led him to the back room, a table covered in a soft cloth was set up. The woman from before was carefully feeding the last kitten from a bottle. Its contents dribbled messily down its jaw, but the kitten didn't seem to care. It was too hungry to care about mannerisms. Too young, as well.

The wet box had been discarded on the floor. Another sealed box, one that looked to be specifically made to transport newly adopted pets, sat ominously next to a sink.

"This one seemed to be the youngest of them, a male. It's a miracle that it able to survive to this point since we discovered that it only has one tooth. It's have a hard time eating even soft foods."

 _If it ate at all,_ Hiccup thought ruefully. "What's gonna happen to it?"

"We can keep it with our other felines, but it's sick. It might infect our other pets here, and it definitely won't do well once it realizes it has no family left. We can treat its illness with some powdered medicine into its milk, but unless this fella gets a new home in the next few days, it's not gonna make it."

Hiccup came to a resolve. It hit him like a train wreck, but as soon as it did, it wouldn't leave his head. "I'll take it home."

The vet looked at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. P-please. If that's okay." Legally speaking, he wasn't sure if it was okay to even take the kitten away from the only person within a walking distance who could take care of it, but he wanted to. He needed to. He wasn't sure if he could live with himself if he hadn't offered, only to regret it when it died because no one would care to take in a sick animal.

The vet smiled. "He's going to be just fine."

Hiccup was left to feed for the kitten as the woman went back to her own office to get the necessary paperwork. To legally allow Hiccup take the kitten home. He imputed what was necessary in the computer first, offering his legal name and address and phone number. Then he was given a paper to sign, including the animal's name.

As he got to that part, the kitten yawned, showing off its one tooth. This was how Hiccup got a clear look of it for the first time, without the threat of death hanging over the air.

It was all black, shiny from the wetness in the fur. They had dried the kittens off, but this one still seemed to be damp. It's yawn went on for a short while, making Hiccup chuckle.

"You really are a toothless one, aren't ya?" Struck with inspiration, he wrote down what was needed.

The vet took the paper and grinned. "Imaginative," he commented. He offered Hiccup a box to take Toothless home in, with air holes so the poor thing wouldn't suffocate. He also applied the necessary medicine and early infantile kitten food that Toothless would need. He couldn't be more than fifteen days old.

Ordinarily, the vet said, new adoptees would have to pay a fee for the adoption itself and any food that would be handled. But since Toothless wasn't necessarily under the ownership of the adoption center, he let it slide. He winked at Hiccup at this.

Promising to return every few days for a check up, Hiccup carefully held the box in both hands despite the handle. He peeked through one of the air holes, but it was too dark too see him.

It was past eight.

The only car parked with its headlights on belong to his dad. He got into the passenger seat of the car and softly closed the door, nestling the box on his lap.

"How'd it go?" Stoick asked, already beginning the drive home. They went down the street past the cafe, which already had its lights out. The apartment above it seemed to have plenty of life.

"Only one survived." Hiccup delicately rubbed the side of the box with his hand. They past the closed bakery and bookstore, where the owners would band together for a fundraiser the next day.

Stoick stopped at a red light. "I'm proud of you, son." He leaned over and brushed his hair out of the way to kiss him on his temple. The side path was muddy and rampaged.

Hiccup smiled. He looked out the window at the alley as he drove by. They went by another red light and stopped with a few more cars in front of them, prompting Hiccup to stare a little longer.

A dark figure stood there. He was looking for something in between the trash bins. When he couldn't find it, he angrily kicked one of the bins over, revealing a large knife on the ground in front of him.

Hiccup blanched. _He's looking for the kittens._ He protectively wrapped his arms around the box.

The figure turned and stared at him. _He sees me._

The car started up again and they drove on, Stoick oblivious to Hiccup's sense of dread. Looking through the rear view mirror, Hiccup saw the large, foreboding man standing in the middle of the road, the lampposts emitting light on either side of the street.

They got home and Hiccup was wary. He made sure to keep 911 predialed less something happen.

He took the box out and grabbed a bowl from the kitchen. He empties a water bottle into it and went to his room, leaving the door partially open. He carefully used one hand to carry Toothless out of the box. His fur was finally dry.

He used one of his thicker blankets as a bed, using one layer to drape over half of its tiny body. He set the bowl of water next to the makeshift bed. Keeping the medicine and food on the desk where Toothless wouldn't be able to reach. He went to sleep, and woke up on a Saturday morning to mewling below him.

Toothless' eyes were green, just like his.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **This fanfic is dedicated to my lovely kitten Iggy, who unfortunately passed away last August when she was only a few weeks old. Given her age and when I got her, I calculated she was maybe born in early summer, sometime in June to be exact.**

 **She's the cat I use for my profile pic now. While I love my calico Scope now, Iggy will always be in my heart as a fond and playful kitty.**

 **Word Count: 2701**

 ** _~CoronaCrown~_**


	2. Why Meetups Shouldn't Take Place Inside

"It's so... _tiny_."

Anna had been the one to speak. She and the others were spread around Hiccup's living room, looking down on Toothless as he padded the blanket he was on.

The kitten decided that its favorite place to be was under the coffee table. Hiccup had already set up its small bed and litter box there. Toothless seemed to have difficulty knowing exactly where to use the bathroom, but he seemed to be understanding the sandbox's purpose little by little.

"How long have you had it?" Rapunzel leaned forward as much as she dared, thought she was still a good few feet away sitting on the couch's armrest.

"Almost three weeks now. The vet said that Toothless might be nervous around humans, so he said that any strangers should start off away from him and gradually meet physically over the next few days."

"Is it a good idea for all of us to be here at the same time, then?" Jack had taken a seat from the kitchen since everyone else had taken up the available room.

He had a point there. The eight of them—Hiccup, Jack, Rapunzel, Anna, Elsa, Merida, Tadashi, and Hiro— were spread out in the living room. Hiccup sat on the floor next to the coffee table, while his friends had taken the seats.

"As long as we don't crowd him, he'll be fine," Hiccup said. He gently reached over and plucked the kitten off the blanket, who meowed at the loss of softness. He immediately settled into Hiccup's hand. "Who wants to hold him?"

"I will! I will!" Anna excitedly rocketed out of her seat, her twin pigtails flapping wildly.

Elsa reached up to her sister's arm to clam her down. "Anna, please. At least show some restraint."

"Nope." She got down to her knees, approximately reaching Hiccup's level. She still had several inches on him; everyone excluding Hiro did. "What do I do?"

Holding a tiny Toothless in his hands reminded him of holding a sock filled with sand: "Grasp him gently with both hands or else he'll scamper all over the place."

"'Grasp' and 'gently' have completely different definitions," Hiro said, holding Mochi on his lap.

Hiccup shushed him and carefully passed Anna the kitten. Toothless struggled for moment at the shift before settling. Then he began to climb up Anna's arm.

"O-oh, no. Oh, my. Oh, oh, oh, oh my god, oh my god." Anna kept repeating the same thing over and over as she awkwardly bent her arm and neck at an angle to try and keep the kitten balanced on herself so he wouldn't fall.

Jack snorted and clapped sarcastically. "Wow. Nice, Anna. Trying out for a contortionist?"

"Hiccup! What do I do?" Toothless was perched on her shoulder, looking around at his new height.

"Here, let me get him." Hiccup reached up and took him back down, letting Anna sigh and relax.

Hiro slid off his seat. "Let's see how he reacts to Mochi."

"Careful, Hiro." Tadashi places a hand on his brother's shoulder to stop him. "Mochi's really big, and Toothless is tiny. He might be intimidated by him."

"How can Mochi be intimidated?"

" _Toothless_ could be intimidated, ya dingus."

Toothless was set on the carpeted floor, sniffing and gaining the scents of everyone around him.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Hiccup said. "Let's just see how they react to each other."

Mochi was released and Hiro returned to his seat. Hiccup scooter away until he back was barely touching Jack's legs. Mochi saw the younger kitten, but Toothless made no movements. As the larger cat walked towards him, Toothless suddenly bolted and ran out of the room, meowing loudly as if he had gotten hurt.

"What jus' happened?" Merida looked back and forth between the living room door and Mochi, who sniffed the spot Toothless was just at.

"I... have _no_ idea."

While the others pondered what could have possibly happened, Hiccup left the room to find Toothless. He called his name out as he passed each room, searching the entire first floor. Toothless was too small to even attempt to climb the stairs, Hiccup always carried him up or down. There was no way he could be anywhere else unless he managed to get outside, which was just as impossible.

He ducked his head to look behind the refrigerator when he saw it: a pair of reflecting green eyes in the darkness. Thanks to Toothless' black fur, that was all he was able to see.

"C'mon, Toothless. It's lunchtime."

The prospect of food seemed to shift something in Toothless' eyes, but he remained unmoving.

"Toothless. Get out, c'mon." Already thin enough, Hiccup sandwiched his arm in the gap between the fridge and the wall. He could feel the cord on his arm as he reached blindly for the cat. He was doing fine until it reached his elbow. He wasn't stuck, but rather the angle made it difficult to reach inside anymore. "Come on..."

" _Mow_."

Whipping his head around, he saw Toothless patiently waiting behind him, looking around disinterested.

"But... how did you–?" Removing his arm, he looked in the gap and saw that the eyes were gone. He looked back to Toothless and frowned. "Are you playing around with me?"

He knew cats were smart, but there was no way Toothless was smart enough to outwit him after being alive a little over a month. And he's been in the house for only half of that time.

"Hiccup?" Rapunzel poked her head into the room. "Did you find Toothless?"

"Yeah, he's right–" Hiccup turned to the spot where Toothless sat, but he was gone. He looked back in the refrigerator gap, but it was also devoid of cat eyes. "How the heck does he do that?! He just disappears and reappears whenever it's convenient for him!"

Rapunzel looked around the room. "Where do you think he went?"

"I don't know. If I find him on top of something taller than me, I'm gonna scream." He grabbed a chair from the table to use as a ladder, stepping on it to view the top of the fridge. "Did you need anything?"

"Mm? Oh, yeah. Jack and Merida are hungry and they're debating over what pizza to get again."

"They know we can order more than one topping on other pizzas, right?" He didn't scream. He got off the chair and put it back to its original position.

"I tried telling them that. Do you want us to just go ahead and order the usual?"

"Sure. I'll get something out for Mochi too, I should have the solid food the vet gave me." He opened a drawer and pulled out a bag of cat nibbles.

"Is that good for Mochi to eat?"

"It's just the usual protein and nutrient stuff. They give it to all the cats that are adopted."

"Mow."

Hiccup looked down in the drawer again. "Aha! Wait... How did you even get in here?!"

* * *

Toothless nibbled noisily as he ate, while Mochi's crunches sounded loudly.

"Cats have no manners," Jack said with a mouthful of pepperoni.

"You're one to talk." Hiro took a chicken wing and bit into it. "What the–?! These are only mild spicy!"

"Not everyone has those same wings your aunt makes," Elsa argued. She wiped her mouth clean of tomato sauce. "Frankly, she shouldn't even have those on her menu. Someone could get hospitalized."

"Fred was once hospitalized," Tadashi said.

"Is that the Fred with the twin sister, or the one that's really rich?" Anna asked.

Hiccup frowned. "Just because they sound the same I don't it's easy to mistake them for each other."

Jack shrugged. "Debatable."

"The rich one, ya?" Merida asked.

"Yeah, him. His own fault, really. Drank the sauce straight from the pot and didn't even wait for the stove to turn off or the wings to be poured in. He couldn't even taste any sort of flavor for a while after that."

"I 'member back in Scotland," Merida said as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve, "that mah mother would always badger me whenever I ate soup from the pot n'stead of the bowl."

Jack scoffed. "Yeah, like you're any better here than you were before."

Merida glared at him through the few strands in her face. "An' what's that s'posed tah mean?"

"I'm just saying, you could try acting a little more like a girl."

At this, everyone grabbed their plates and immediately left the room.

Merida stayed behind, her teeth gritting against each other. "Say that again?"

Knowing from previous experience to not interrupt, Hiccup only said, "Break the coffee table and you're paying for it," before grabbing Toothless, who protested on account of wanting to eat more.

"I'm saying, Americans show a little more decorum than Scottish people."

"Decorum? Have ya seen the way this country's being run? Ye've got criminals on the streets and innocents in jail cells!"

"Like you're a saint, Miss Breaking-and-Entering!"

"I saved yer backside by breaking into the school at night, and you know it! Otherwise they would've seen that security footage of you the next morning!"

"And I still got suspended!"

"Because of yer stupidity!"

Their argument carried into the kitchen as Hiccup sighed. "Why do we keep putting the two of them in the same room?"

"I'd think they had a thing for each other if Merida hadn't made it clear how she felt about him when they first met," Rapunzel said.

"She punched him, right?" Hiro said, thinking back to the story.

"Knocked him out flat," Hiccup said. He and Rapunzel has been witnesses. "He could've sued her if he wanted to."

"Why didn't he?" Anna asked, her eyebrows knitting together.

Hiccup shrugged. "Don't know, really. His own fault, he maybe realized. I didn't realize the Scottish had such offensive terms."

"Neither did I," Elsa said, "and I've been learning about the Western European culture for years."

Tadashi nodded. "That's right. You're family's from Norway, isn't it?"

"From Arendelle," Anna nodded. "Our family there has this really fancy house in the town, just off the coast. We've been there a couple times when we were little. Supposedly, we're descended from royalty back in the 19th century."

"My family is supposed to be related to royalty as well, in Germany," Rapunzel nodded.

"Our mom came her from Japan when she was a kid, and she eventually met our dad," Tadashi said. "Don't think we have royal blood."

"We might have scientist blood," Hiro pointed out, no doubt referring to his own intellect in passing several grades.

"My family is supposed to be related to Vikings from a thousand years ago," Hiccup said, taking a sip from his plastic cup. "My dad even has those helmets and shields that he donated to the museum a few years ago.

"Jack's family were some of the first people to settle in this country, I remember him telling me that," Rapunzel said. "And Merida came from the Scottish Highlands."

"What does 'Highlands' even mean?" Anna asked. "Is it just land that's high on a mountain?"

"Pretty much," Hiro nodded.

A crash sounded form the next room over.

"I hope that wasn't the coffee table," Hiccup lamented. It would be the third one that year they'd have to replace. "Wait, where'd Toothless go? I had him with me when I came in..."

A meow sounded from somewhere in the room. Looking around, Hiccup snapped.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Toothless was perched on top of the fridge.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **I'm honestly not too proud of this one, it seems to me like there's too much talk, talk, talk. But I'm putting it out only because I can't think of a more better plot and wanted something mundane and ordinary. Or as ordinary as it can get with a fanfic like this.**

 **Those of you who reviewed were really impressed by this and I honestly didn't plan to flesh this out into a full story. That aside, I still won't. This will instead be a series of one-shots, which generally aren't all about plot and moving forward, they're just fillers. You know, like most TV series. I decided on plan and it's going to go something like this:**

 **Each chapter will feature a single person sharing their experience alongside Toothless. In between these chapters there will be one with a story element. Remember that shadowy figure back in the first chapter? I wanted a mystery element, but I guess I have to lead up to who it is now. While you might have a vague idea, I'm going to keep it like that: vague. You know, for reveal reasons.**

 **I'm also open to suggestions, like certain character behavior or action, not just for Toothless. What's something a modern version of these characters would do or say? Also, because I enjoy the idea that Disney shares the same universe, there may be cameos from other Disney titles, and maybe Pixar, too, if I can fit just one.**

 **This has been long, but I hope you guys are looking forward to what's next. Thank you for the encouragement to continue this, even if it seems all over the place. Updates will be sporadic, one might not come weeks from now, or in the next few days. Who knows?**

 **Word Count: 2309**

 ** _~CoronaCrown~_**


	3. This Chapter Foreshadows A Future One

The Lucky Cat was generally where they all would meet during a time when no one had anything to do. Well, that wasn't necessarily true. Tadashi and Hiro did work there under their aunt, the owner of the cafe, but there were days when it was slow in the business part of town in general, and no customers would come inside.

Cass was wiping clean the glass counter when she heard the bell over the door ring, signalling or her that someone had entered the vicinity. Turning, she smiled when she saw one of her nephew's friends enter. A man came after him, but she ignored him for now.

"Hey, Hiccup," Cass said, going around the counter to get the donut he was so fond of. "Here to pick up Toothless?"

"Yeah. Thanks again for letting him stay here while I was at the library." He paid half what was normally required for a donut, the price they agreed on, and took it in its paper bag. "Are they upstairs?"

"Haven't come down. Just go on up, I need to tend to a customer."

Hiccup nodded, putting the paper bag in his leather shoulder bag, making his way past the archway marked "EMPLOYEES ONLY" and up the stairs. Looking around, he saw no one on the kitchen or living room. Down the hall he knew were the restroom and Cass's bedroom. Instead, he walked up the stairs to the room the brothers shared.

"Guys? I'm here to–" As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, he stopped. Tadashi and Hiro weren't here. There beds were clean, so it didn't look like they'd have to pry Toothless's growing claws off the sheets. Where had they gone?

Cass said that they hadn't gone downstairs, so they had to be up here. There was no reason for her to lie.

Hiccup went back down the stairs and looked around. He saw the bag that he left for them standing by the table. The food was in the dish, but it looked uneaten.

Sounds from down the hall caught his attention. He turned and saw Hiro exit out of the bathroom door. In his hands was Toothless.

"Hiccup!" Hiro sighed. "Oh, thank god."

"What were you doing in the bathroom with my cat?" Hiccup questioned.

"H-he got away again. I mean, he ran off and we had to find him." Hiro was panting, as if he'd run through the whole house in a panic.

"He didn't cause any problems, did he?" Hiccup took the cat back.

In the weeks that had passed, with autumn already around the corner, Toothless has grown a little in size. He needed two hands to be held when he was tinier because he was always squirming. Now, he had enough strength to wrestle himself out of people's grasps. The only person he didn't wrestle out of was Hiccup.

Hiro shook his head. "Nope. He hasn't eaten yet, though. His food's right over there." He pointed behind Hiccup to the bowl on the ground.

Hiccup stared at him. Hiro stared back. Occasionally, his eyes would dart to the side with a visibly uncomfortable expression on his face. The only thing that sounded was Toothless purring in his arms and dogs barking somewhere outside. It seemed to be a substitute for crickets.

Thumping noises came from the floor above them. A moment later, Tadashi came barreling down the stairs, gasping for breath. His usual shirt was dirty and he was sweating like some kind of maniac.

"Oh! H-Hiccup–" Tadashi swallowed and inhaled. "What, uh, I mean, you're, you're early." He played casual, but it was so obvious he was hiding something.

Hiccup frowned. He set Toothless down and looked up at them. "Okay, what's going on? What exactly happened while I was gone?"

The brothers looked at each other and gave strange facial expressions. Tadashi jerked his head to Hiccup a few times, but Hiro shook his head. They hummed nonsensically. This continued for a few more seconds before Hiccup shouted, "GUYS!"

Tadashi sighed. "We has a bit of problem with Toothless."

"And it was my fault," Hiro admitted.

"What happened?"

The brothers looked at each other again before sighing.

"It happened about two hours ago, when you dropped Toothless off," Tadashi began.

* * *

Having never been in their room before, Toothless began to sniff around. He prodded his nose under Hiro's bed, where he had to have been dragged out lest the brothers be unable to reach him.

"He's probably hungry," Tadashi said from his bed. "One of us should go for his food."

Hiro nodded. "Yeah." He waited but heard nothing else. Turning from his spot, he kind Tadashi not even close to getting up. "Oh, you mean me."

"Yep." He idly flipped the page of the book he was reading.

"You couldn't even ask?" Hiro rolled his eyes and got up from his bed, letting Toothless down on top of it. He strolled down to the kitchen to get Toothless' food ready.

He had barely set the bowl down when Tadashi began shouting in the floor above.

"Hey! Hey, get back here! No, wait! Come back!"

Startled, Hiro dashed up the stairs. Halfway up, he ran into Tadashi coming down. "Dude! What happened?"

"It's Toothless!" Tadashi shouted frantically. His hat was off his head, which was something odd as it was a part of his daily outfit. "He got out!"

"What do you mean, 'got out'?"

Tadashi took his brother back to their room, pulling him to Hiro's bed. "He got out of your open window!"

Sure enough, the window above the bed was open a margin. Pressing his face against it, he saw something in the alley just behind the house. It looked like a black cat with a green collar.

"We have to get him!" Hiro darted out of the room, but Tadashi grabbed him by the hood of his jacket.

"Hold on a minute! What's Aunt Cass going to say if she sees us running out of here like this?" Tadashi kneed over the bed and pulled it open all the way. "I'm going after him. You stay here in case Hiccup gets back early."

"What do I tell him, that we lost his cat and it got ran over by some careless driver?" Hiro exasperated.

"Just tell him I'm looking for him!" Tadashi shouted. He pulled himself out he window so that his foot just barely touched the wall separating what was their property and the alley next to it. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

He jumped off the wall as he heard Hiro shout, "He's gonna kill the both of us if we don't find him!"

Maybe not kill, but Tadashi has an inkling that Hiccup would make the both of them pay dearly. As scrawny as he looked, Hiccup knew what sort of fight to fight. Those were psychological or revenge plots. Never let it be said that Jack never learned his lesson.

Finding Toothless wasn't necessarily hard. He was easy to spot the cat as he crossed the street and squirmed his way past a crowd of people at the park. He offered distracted apologies and condolences as he pushed people out of the way to get to Toothless. He eventually found himself in the more rural part of town, where train tracks, grass fields, and a sewer opening spread until outside of town.

Toothless was nowhere to be found.

A car honk made him turn around, surprised to see a familiar face pull up next to him.

"What's the sitch, slick?" Gogo Tomago said she rested her arm on the window frame.

"Gogo? You're... in town?" Tadashi was only half paying attention to her, looking around for the cat.

"Just passing through, heading back home after making a stop with my parents for some obscure family member I've never heard of. You okay? Look like you're gonna pass out."

Tadashi pulled out his phone. It had been over half an hour since he left. He still had time to find Toothless before Hiccup came to pick him up.

"I was watching over a cat for a friend and the darn thing got out of the house." He looked around and did a double take. "There! Right there!"

Down the tracks through a row of warehouses, Toothless hissed and ran off.

Tadashi looked down at is friend. "Can you help me?"

Gogo smirked. "Get in."

In no time at all, Gogo was speeding down the tracks. The gravel was grey and green blades of grass barely dotted the area. There was no sign of a black cat anywhere.

"Where the heck could it have gone?" Tadashi looked up and patted Gogo's shoulder. "Stop! Stop the car!"

Gogo stopped, and Tadashi opened up the car door. He ran to the fence parallel to the tracks and pressed himself against it. On the other side, next to a small, incomplete warehouse, was Toothless. They caught each other's eyesight for a moment before Toothless turned around and slipped into a crevice leading into the building.

"How does it do that?" Gogo wondered, catching up to him.

"Give me a lift."

Gogo hummed. "I dunno. We'd basically be breaking and entering, not to mention how dangerous it'll be to go in an incomplete infrastructure. We could get arrested or JUST KIDDING, LET'S GO IN."

She helped Tadashi over and climbed up herself.

Tadashi opted to search inside while Gogo stay out and watch the perimeter in case Toothless scurried out. The door was easy to pull open, but inside was something unexpected.

The inside was much bigger than the outside made it look. The three warehouses that looked like they were simply next to each other was only a facade, as the three of them were really one giant warehouse. Cars were parked and a meat grinder that wouldn't look out of place in a butcher's was placed in the center.

Dust had gathered on the grinder's shell, but not on the cars. The beams holding the ceiling up had chains and hooks wrapped around them, the sort used to life heavy metal containers and shipments with the aid of a crane. Metal rungs acted as a ladder on several parts of the wall, but they didn't lead anywhere. Just as it looked outside, he inside was just as incomplete.

Toothless was hissing at the cars, but didn't object to when Tadashi picked him up. He kept hissing, crawling out of his arms and up his shoulder.

Tadashi frowned. "What's wrong? Why come all the way here?" He looked at the time. He had less than an hour left to get back. They needed to leave now else they not make it back in time.

He turned away to back back in the entrance he came from when barking caught his attention. A mesh of three dogs barking sounded from a farther part of the warehouse echoed in the large and mostly empty room, making the hairs on his neck rise. He quickly exited the warehouse and met up with Gogo, climbing back over the fence and to the car.

"That cat is nothing but trouble," Gogo commented as they drove back to the business district of town.

"Tell me about it. You can just drop me off here, I can walk the rest of the way." He checked his phone as he got out of the car. He had a few minutes left. If he walked at a brisk pace, he should get there no problem.

But of course, life didn't work that way.

The moment he saw the Lucky Cat Cafe, he flinched when he saw Hiccup crossing the street to reach it. He was about to run down the street and into the alley when barking stopped him.

Behind him, three large and vicious dogs were growling at him, leering st him as if he were prey. In his arms, Toothless hissed and clawed at his neck to try and get away.

Tadashi ran, the dogs immediately giving chase. He overshot the window into the bedroom and instead climbed over a garbage bin that barely managed to hold his weight. He knocked frantically on whatever window was closest to him and shouted for his brother. "Hiro! Hiro, open up!"

After a minute with nonstop barking behind him, the window opened, almost startling Tadashi off the wall.

"What happened?" Hiro shouted.

"Never mind that! Just take Toothless, I saw Hiccup heading inside!" He practically shoved the cat into Hiro's arms, who stumbled at the sudden weight,

"What about you?"

Tadashi looked down and saw that the dogs were now trying to jump on the bins. Holding himself up by the windowsill, he lowered his foot as much as he dared to kick the bin over stopping their attempts. One of the dogs then grabbed athis shoe, pulling him down.

"Just go! I'll go back in the other window!" He slammed his foot against the wall, making the dog yell and let go. He didn't pay attention if Hiro did what he said, he only climbed up the angled wall to the open window of their room.

He pulled himself through, knocking over several of Hiro's action figures of a shelf as he wildly kicked his feet. He hoped Hiccup hadn't come upstairs yet to hear that.

* * *

"It happened about two hours ago, when you dropped Toothless off," Tadashi began. "Things were fine, for about five minutes."

"I left a window open and Toothless got out into the street," Hiro said quickly.

Hiccup frowned. "He got out? But Cass said she didn't see you leave."

"Didn't leave through the front door." Tadashi threw himself on the sofa, an angle away from the TV. "God, I'm so hot I feel like I'm on fire. Can you get me some water?"

"You're as red as a tomato." Hiro went to the kitchen to get a glass and fill it with water from the tap.

"I don't get it." Hiccup crosses his arms and sat down. "If Cass didn't see you leave, then how did you get out?"

"Outside the window, exactly how Toothless left." He nodded his thanks to his brother and drank the whole glass. "I found him, and we came right back."

"Is that it?"

Hiro shrugged. "I guess. Tadashi told me to wait here, so I don't really know what happened on his end."

Tadashi nodded. "Yeah, that's it."

Hiccup sighed. "I wish you guys wouldn't try and hide this from me. I hate it when people lie."

"Oh, we're aware of that," Hiro nodded. "But we didn't think you'd trust us with anything if something happened to _that_." He gestured to Toothless as the feline was eating.

They talked a little more to let Toothless eat before they finally left, leaving just the two brothers alone to themselves.

"Where's Mochi?" Tadashi suddenly asked.

"He's downstairs, like always when we're open."

He sighed. "Oh, thank god. I was worried that now he went out the window."

Hiro was silent before speaking. "Why didn't you tell him you were almost mauled by dogs?"

"Hiccup would've felt guilty," Tadashi said. "Toothless is all his responsibility, and he put on us for a few hours. He'd think it his fault if he knew I was chased."

The two of them went downstairs to see if their aunt needed help, but the cafe was empty. Not even Aunt Cass was behind the counter, only Mochi on the glass separating him from the donuts.

"What's going on outside?" Hiro exited the building, Tadashi following.

A small crowd of people had worried expressions, some on their phones and calling about an emergency, that an ambulance was needed right away.

From down the street, Tadashi turned to see a car leaving marks on the blacktop as it turned away. It seemed to be moving fast.

"What's going on?" Hiro asked a man who was standing a little further away from the crowd.

"Some sort of accident," the man said. "That's all I've gathered."

Aunt Cass came out of the crowd. Upon seeing his nephews, her eyes widened. "Boys! What are you doing here? Get back inside!"

"Aunt Cass, what happened? Who's hurt? Is the ambulance coming?"

Aunt Cass tried to push the two of them back into the cafe, but Hiro was stubborn. He ducked under his aunt's arm, ignoring her cries as he pushed his way through the crowd. Finally, he broke through to an ugly sight.

A man was gently touching Hiccup's body. "He's still breathing, but he won't be for long if he's not delivered to the hospital."

Toothless was thrown off to the side, weakly getting up. Hiccup's bag of books and what he left with them was also scattered around. Hiccup was bleeding, his left leg squished so that it was unhinged form his knees.

Someone had just ran into him with their car and drove off.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **This one took longer than necessary to put out, but I like it. The direction of this story has been laid out, I know exactly how it'll end, how it'll go, and what resolves what. I feel like from here on, every chapter is nothing but action or a filler, but that's just how it'll be. This one is pretty long, and with decent story, so let's just see how this ones works with you people. Thoughts? Questions? Maybe they'll be answered in the next one, maybe not.**

 **Word Count: 3010**

 ** _~CoronaCrown~_**


	4. Every Chapter Contains A Plot Device

Jack stared at the cat.

The cat stared back.

Whenever Jack blinked, he made sure that Toothless was in his place perched on the bench next to him. People would occasionally walk by, either on a walk or passing through the park. One child with his mother pointed excitedly at the cat and their mother acknowledged him before saying they had to go home. Other than that, there was no real surprise.

Until Merida showed up.

Jack heard footsteps walk up and stop at him, but he didn't turn to look at her. "What?" he said.

"Watcha doin', Whitecap?" Merida said.

"Making sure the damned cat doesn't go anywhere." In the past seven months since Toothless has arrived, everyone had experienced how easily Toothless could disappear from the area in a blink of an eye.

Jack was not going to disappoint his best friend by losing his emotional support. He remembered how distraught Hiccup was that Toothless was hurt after the incident despite him being one limb short.

"Yer too paranoid," Merida said.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Remember what happened to Tadashi? And Anna and Elsa while Hiccup was recovering after the hit-and-run?"

She tilted her head in concede before speaking again. "Still. I don' think yeh should gaze at him like that, or yeh'll go stir-crazy."

"Tch. If babysitting Jamie and Sophie for two days won't drive me crazy, nothing will."

"Or maybe yeh already are."

Jack didn't dignify that with a response. Instead, he kept his gaze on the cat. The cat gazed back.

Merida groaned. "I swear, my dim-witted neighbor back in Scotland could think something smarter than this."

He chuckled, turning to look at him before turning back. "Yeah, good luck with tha– son fo a–!" Jack stood up and stomped his foot. "Damn it! Thanks a lot, Merida! Thackery Binx is gone gone!"

Sure enough, the spot where Toothless occupied was gone. The two of them looked around frantically before Merida pointed.

"There! He's in that tree!"

Being careful not to slip on the winter snow, they reached the thin and lithe park tree. Toothless was on one of the thin branches, looking like he wanted to jump down.

"Don't you dare!" Jack scolded. "No! Don't even think about it!

But he did. With how high he was, he buried himself in the snow and disappeared into it.

"Ugh! How hard can it be to find a black cat in white snow?"

Very difficult, as it turned out. Then he search turned into an argument about who was at fault, and how the other would face Hiccup's wrath when he returned.

A van caught their attention. Jack saw it first, then turned Merida to face it. "Oh, my god. Merida, look!" It was an animal patrol car, and it was for the only pound in town where they disposed of the animals they found should anyone not claim them.

Realizing just how much trouble they were in, they chased after the van as it drove off, yelling for the driver to stop. They followed it for several streets until they reached the building, the van parked outside and already emptied out. They ran into the building to face a booth with a man on the other side of the glass.

"You guys picked up a cat at the park," Jack began explaining, "It's a black cat a few months old, green eyes and a green collar, it has only one tooth. Is it here?"

The man seemed bored. He picked up a clipboard in front of him and flipped through the papers. As he lifted one to look under it, Jack saw it upside down and determined that various breeds and animals were listed on it.

"Got one." The man set the clipboard down and got a paper from a tray. "Fill in this form. State your legal name and pet's license number, your address, and we can get it out of here."

Jack frowned at the paper he was given. "But it's not my pet. It's my friend's, I was watching over it for him when it got out of my sight. I don't know its damn license number!"

The man shrugged and took the paper back. "You got 65 bucks? That's the only other way I can let it go if you don't have a pet license number."

"Sixty–? Look, mister, I don't have that kind of money on me. Please, can't you just let us have it? You've barely had it for five minutes!"

The man shrugged. "Rules are rules, kid. You either pay the fine or offer the license number. Otherwise, you don't get the cat back." He finished the conversation by pulling a metal grate down, closing the entire booth window in his face.

Jack pounded the desk in front of him with his fist, groaning at the increasing pain. He turned around to see Merida looking at a bulletin board, not having said a single word the entire time. "Thanks for nothing,"

He walked up to where she stood at felt the color drain from his face as he read the largest and clearest notification on the board.

 **ALL PETS NOT CLAIMED WITHIN SEVEN DAYS OF**  
 **CAPTURE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DISPOSED OF**

Feeling queasy, Jack slipped into one of the chairs in the room. He felt a migraine coming on. The air smelled heavily of animal fur. The lights almost hurt his eyes. The cries of animals in the next room over was deafening.

"This is all my fault," he said. He slumped against one of the weak chairs lining the wall opposite of the locked door to the animals. "I should've just stayed home. Eat that stupid casserole that Mom insists we eat when lunch comes around. Not go to the stupid taco truck."

"It's also my fault," Merida admitted. She took a seat next to him. Her normally free frizzy hair was tied back to mimic a ponytail-style, making her face look smaller than it was. "Why do we keep fightin'?"

"And why is it that every time we do, someone else ends up getting the blunt of it?"

Three times they had to pay for a broken coffee table at Hiccup's house because they fought physically instead of verbally. They once broke a vase at Rapunzel's house. They accidentally kicked a wall in at school earlier that year in spring. And now Toothless was in the pound.

"Hiccup gets back tomorrow afternoon," Jack said. The both of them left the pound to brainstorm. "We have less than 24 hours to get Toothless back."

"Can't we just ask our parents for help?" Merida suggested.

"Are you kidding? They're so fed up with us that they'll just tell Hiccup anyway. He's not going to trust us with anything if he finds out. How much money do you have on you?"

"Only change, I was walking just to escape my family for a bit."

Jack reached into his pockets and sighed. "Only three dollars. Shoot! At best, we need 62 more. You think the others can help?"

"Everyone else went out of the country, an' Rapunzel is in New York," Merida reminded him.

Fed up, Jack kicked a mound of snow and watched it hit the window of a store they were walking past. He crossed his arms and tried to think when something caught his eye inside. "I have an idea."

* * *

" _This_ is yer idea?!"

Jack frowned. "What's wrong with this?"

"Yeh wasted yer money on a deck of cards!" Merida hissed, trying not to draw attention to themselves. "Yeh think yeh can get money from performing cheap magic tricks like some kinda panhandler?"

"It's called street magic, princess," Jack said plainly. "Do you have anything better?"

She conceded that she did not.

At first, it went slow. They waited in the food court outside the mall about half an hour away from the pound, where people generally flocked, but the cold and snow made business slow during winter. As it was already past he holidays, no one was busy buying gifts.

Jack knew plenty of tricks to pull off. He practiced magic when he was young, and though he never had a personal deck of cards, he used to play with his father's before they were buried alongside him after Sophie was born.

Merida sat off to the side as Jack performed several admittedly impressive tricks. It wasn't just the simple "is this your card" play, but when he folded one card with a person's name on it to be identified, he later pulled it out of his mouth, the very same card with the person's handwritten name.

After gaining half the money they needed, Jack decided to pull a bigger play. He went back to the magic store to get a magician's hat and went across the street to a second-hand shop to purchase an old and used bunny toy. It was enough to perform the "bunny out of the hat trick," something which any of the children loved.

They returned just in time as the pound would be closing in a few minutes. They handed the man the money and he gave them a paper.

"Just write the owner's name and his address, we'll send over the receipt in a week or so," the man said.

Jack nervously wrote down what was necessary. Behind him, Merida looked like she was going to speak, but closed her mouth. Once it was filled in, the man pressed a buzzer on his side and the security door on their end popped open.

"Go in and get your cat," he said with disinterest.

The sight in the next room over was unsettling. Several cats and dogs were in cages all over the room, reminiscent of jail cells. Some of them looked hurt, and others looked malnourished. In each cell there were two bowls, for food and water. It was obvious they weren't being treated properly.

"Look at 'em," Merida said in disgust. "These blasted pound has no respect for creatures." She stopped walking and caught sight of another open door leading to maybe behind the building. Two men were taking caged animals onto a van. They were most likely taking them away after their week had passed.

Jack leaned down. "Toothless!"

The black cat was in a cage alongside a white cat inside. The white cat had long and dirty fur, giving it a fluffy appearance. They were the only two animals inside the cage.

"Let's get you outta here before Hiccup kills all of us." He pulled open the hatch of the cage and picked Toothless up in his arms. He was about to shut it again when the white cat suddenly lept out. "Wait, no! Come back!"

The cat proved to be too fast for them as it darted out the open door. None of the men loading the truck seemed to notice.

The animal activity increased as they seemed to notice one of them had escaped. The barking grew louder and the cats clawed at the door.

"We better go before they realize what's 'appened," Merida said, pulling on Jack's arm.

"Wait!" He passed Toothless over to her before opening another cage. He pulled out a white cat with vastly shorter white fur, but it was just as filthy. He cringed in pain as it clawed at his wrist, trying to escape his grasp. Jack persisted and was forced to throw the cat into the first cage, slamming it shut. making sure they were both locked, he took Toothless back into his own arms. "Let's get out of here."

They left the building and walked at a brisk pace until they reached the park again. Jack let out a heavy breath.

"I should go home," Merida said. "I told me Mum I'd be back hours ago."

"Yeah, me too," Jack said. "Thanks, Merida."

Merida frowned. "I didn't do much. Anything, actually."

"But you stayed. Hiccup is maybe the only thing we agree on, the poor kid is fragile enough."

She scoffed. "Look at you, sounding like you're three hundred years old."

Jack couldn't help but gloat, positioning Toothless in his arms again. "Oh? Well, perhaps that's why I'm so wise."

"Sure, keep telling yerself that."

The two of them said their goodbyes after that, heading back home. As he expected, Jack was met with an angry mother over why he hadn't been answering her calls. With such a long walk, Jack had been able to concoct a story in his head. He just had to hope his mom didn't hear that Merida was also late that night and she get the wrong idea.

* * *

The man at the pound made sure that everything was in order when the door opened. He looked up and saw who it was. "Oh, hey, boss."

The boss looked at him. "You said you found the cat," he said in his deep, gruff voice.

"Oh, yeah. The cat's owner came pick it up or something, I dunno, but at least we got the money for it." He proudly held up the cash that was given to him. Suddenly, a chair was thrown threw the glass, making him jump out of the way.

"YOU IDIOT!" The boss grabbed the man by his throat in a large hand and pulled him close to the border of the booth. "That cat is the last of an an extinct breed! You just cost us millions of dollars!" He threw the man to the wall, which was enough to knock him unconscious.

Shuffling threw the papers, he pulled out a paper with a signature on it, followed by an address.

 _Jackson Overland,_ the paper read, followed by the boy's address.

The boss smiled. "Perfect."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **As you can see, this story is not exactly on linear order. A plot device here, a mystery there. Also, this story is not as one-shot as I thought it would be. I should probably take that off the synopsis. Which I will, once this chapter is uploaded.**

 **And no, the motive is not so cut and dry. There's something even deeper going on, which will be revealed by the end of this story. Thanks for sticking this long, and of course, more will come.**

 **Word Count: 2440**

 _ **~CoronaCrown~**_


	5. An Homage To The Queen Of Hearts

Normally, Toothless was an endless ball of energy during the day. He would paw around any house that wasn't Hiccup's, or lay comfortably somewhere on a cushion to sleep. But for several days, Toothless has yet to move.

The months old cat was smarter than people assumed. He knew that Hiccup was not with him, incapacitated at the hospital. The driver of the car that veered into Hiccup had immediately driven off. It didn't help when Tadashi said he recognized the car from when he went searching for Toothless through the town earlier that day.

Anna crouched on the kitchen floor, slowly nudging Toothless' bowl of cat goop to him. Toothless would occasionally look up at her, but otherwise ignored her presence. He stayed on the bed Rapunzel had made for him, just staring off into the distance like some kind of dramatic anime protagonist.

Footsteps sounded from behind her. "Is he eating?" Elsa asked, grabbing a coffee mug from a high cupboard. Her usually braided hair was loose over her shoulders.

Anna shook her head, standing back up. "No. Nothing. He's all... emo."

"Careful, Anna. You might insult someone." Elsa poured herself some orange juice, making a mental note to add a new carton to the grocery list. "Jack called earlier. The doctors said that Hiccup's bound to wake any day now."

"Oh, thank god. Maybe then Toothless'll have his breakfast."

Elsa nodded, then frowned. "Are you wearing your spring dress?"

Anna's green dress and black blouse with crocuses embroidered on it was her signature "night out" dress. She smiled and bounced lightly on her feet, her pigtails swaying. "Yep. I have a date today."

Her sister was surprised. Anna had expressed interest in boys before, even her fellow college freshman classmate Kristoff Bjorman, but it was only a matter of time before she went on a date. "With whom?"

"My boyfriend."

Mid-sip, Elsa sputtered and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Excuse me, what? How long have you been with him?"

"Not long. We're going on our first date today at the museum. There's this new medieval exhibit that's opened recently."

Still confused, she put her mug down on the counter and crossed her arms, leaning against the kitchen island. "Anna, you can't just automatically call someone your boyfriend when you arrange a date with them. You have to get to know him first, at least go on the date!"

Anna poured her lips, crossing her own arms. "What about you and Jack?"

"What _about_ me and Jack?"

"You guys have been on a date before!"

" _One_ date, Anna. _One_." She followed her point by holding up a single finger. "We haven't been on a date since– oh, my god, this isn't about me. Who is he, anyway? What makes this guy your boyfriend so easily?"

Anna grinned at this. "His name is Hans. And he's a senior!" She acted giddy despite the fact that just like Jack, she was also a senior.

"Hans. Hans, as in Hans Southernisle? The same Hans that's the son of the owner to the Southernisle Company?"

Anna shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe. Oh!" She clapped her hands together. "I got these new cute green flats that go perfect with the dress. Let me go get them!"

Elsa stammered after her, but her footsteps receding upstairs were already gone. She waved her arms in exasperation and turned to Toothless. "Can you believe this?"

Toothless was still uninterested. He only turned in his bed so that he was now looking towards the living room and front door.

Elsa didn't want to damper her sister's spirits, so she kept silent when she came back down, a ribbon added to her hair. The doorbell rang not long after, and Elsa got a glimpse from her spot on the couch as Anna opened he door.

Hans was handsomely dressed in a white dress shirt and black pants. His red hair was also styled fashionably, the sign of a fish man.

After reassurances that she'd be back before dusk, Anna left towards Hans' car and they drove off. Once they were gone, Elsa took out her phone and opened her browser, styling in the company name.

A scandal had broken out a few years ago in which when it seemed that the company would go out of business due to a lack of money, one day they were financially saved. It turned out that Hans' father had been sleeping with rich women and they had been repaying him in return. It was an embarrassment for the company and family and were saved when Hans' eldest brother took over, cutting out what was unnecessary to the company in order to save money.

"Screw it. If she's mad, she'll be mad." She stood up and grabbed her keys, intent on going to the museum and keeping a watchful eye on her sister. It might help to have a friend to stakeout with.

Once she was ready, she walked into the kitchen. "Toothless? You okay to be alone for a while?" She founded the corner to see the bed, but it was empty. Even more surprising, so was his food bowl.

* * *

The history museum in town was a really good one. It was the only museum that Rapunzel's family donated to, and in return, some old royal wear was on display. This was where the medieval hall opened to, with golden armor, a purple flag and yellow sun, and a beautiful crown that its princesses would wear.

Anna looked down at a sign about the knight and soldier's armor, seeing that the captain of the guard was also the father of the princess' handmaiden during a certain period of time.

"I've always loved history," Anna said, kicking her legs a little to make the dress jump. "You know I'm actually related to royalty as well?"

Hans looked at her in surprise. "What, really? You're just telling me that?"

"Why wouldn't I? I'm not a real princess, there's no harm. We even have family in Norway that still lives where the kingdom was." She looked at a display of a sword behind glass, seeing shocked at seeing its size. "Wow! I didn't realize they were so big!"

After going through the medieval hall, they explored a room with replica animals and the second floor offered stars and space views. It was wonderful and amazing at the same time.

They stopped at the cafe for a break, knowing that the museum would close early they day. It was why Anna insisted on this day, so Elsa wouldn't have to worry about being out so late.

As they sat, Anna with a chocolate truffle and Hans with a croissant, she decided to use this opportunity to know a little bit more about each other.

"Excuse me a minute," Hans said as Anna was about to speak. "I gotta use the restroom. Be right back." He smiled before standing and briskly moving back inside the building to use the restroom.

She sighed and began to rest back against her seat when a familiar head of hair caught her attention. There, in a not-so-subtle attempt to hide themselves behind the museum pamphlets, were Elsa and Kristoff.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." She huffed and stood from her seat, leaving her bag at the table. She crossed her arms and huffed, her nostrils flaring as she approached the table. "Hi."

Kristoff looked up and pretended to be surprised. "Oh, Anna! What a coincidence to meet you here!"

"You weren't even _trying_ to stay out of sight," she said. "Why are you here? I can handle myself on a date."

"It's not that I don't trust you, Anna," Elsa said, closing the pamphlet. "It's your date."

"Hans? What's wrong with him?"

"Annie, his father was arrested for infidelity," Kristoff said, using his nickname for her. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Anna frowned. "What?"

Kristoff seated himself a more straight. "Annie, he's been on dates with other girls from school this past week alone. It's like he's looking for a candidate for something. Ow!"

"You weren't supposed to tell her that!" Elsa snapped.

"You're the one that said we shouldn't trust him!"

"Because of the company, you icicle!"

"Icicle? Really?"

"Okay, enough!" Anna rested her hands on the table, making it shake a little. "Seriously, Elsa. Every time I go out and want to do something fun, you always have to go acting like I'm dainty and naive. Just because I don't know how the real world works doesn't mean I'm not aware of its dangerous."

"I just want you to be careful, Anna," Elsa pleaded. "A lot of dangerous things seem to happen to every one lately. You heard what Tadashi said about being chased by dogs!"

"Hans is not a dog." She leered at Kristoff when he snorted. "I am old enough to make my own decisions, Els. Mom and Dad wouldn't have left us on our own this week if they knew we weren't incapable of being on our own." She would've said more, but decided she'd best head back before Hans did. When she sat back down, she saw Elsa and Kristoff leaving the cafe.

When Hans didn't return, she worried that her sister may have been right. She waited ten more minutes before sighing, deciding to just walk around before leaving him by herself. Maybe she can apologize to Elsa over the phone and ask for a ride home.

She reached into her bag for her phone, but knitted her eyes together in confusion. She dig a little more, but ultimately, it was no use. Her phone was gone.

Great. Not only had her date ditched her, but her phone was also missing. What a wonderful date.

She stopped a woman to ask to use her phone to find hers, which she complied to. Once she put her own number in, Anna raised it to her ear and heard it ring once before it was cut off.

"I'm sorry, I need to try again," she said to the woman, who responded kindly that she should take her time.

She heard the ring again before it was immediately picked up and a man's voice shouted, "DON'T CALL THUS NUMBER AGAIN!" before hanging up a second time.

Okay, something was up. She handed the phone back and thanked the woman without offering any explanation as to why she did not speak to anyone on it. Someone had taken her phone, and for whatever reason, weren't playing the "I found it on the floor" play.

She walked past the entryway for an exhibit and stopped. The medieval hall was blocked off by a velvet rope and a sign that read CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS. This set off all sorts of alarm bells in her head. Anna knew for a fact that no renovations were taking part in the medieval hall, they would have set it in the morning instead of the middle of the day.

Moving past the rope and sign, she entered the familiar room. No one was present, no one visible, anyway. She knew that on the other side of the room marked a doorway reading EMERGENCY EXIT and EMPLOYEES ONLY. She carefully stepped forward until a crunch sounded beneath her feet.

Looking down, she saw glass shattered on the floor. On the wall, a case was broken. The sword on display was gone.

She moved forward, keeping an eye out for anything that should be reported. At the end of the room, the crown that was on display was gone. It's glass was also shattered.

Something poked her back.

"Turn around," a familiar voice said.

Anna held her breath, her body suddenly stiff and ready to escape. She turned around and was faced with Hans pointing the sword at him. In his other hand was the crown and her phone.

"You stole the crown."

Hans scoffed. "God, you're stupid. Of course I did. Did you really think I wanted to go on this date with you?"

"I was hoping, anyway," Anna admitted. "My sister's friend said you had dated other girls this week."

"Those weren't dates. Call it... a conspiratorial meeting."

"What.. what does that even mean?"

"Like I'd tell you." He kept the sword level to her throat. "I know took you out because I knew you'd fall for such a sappy thing like a date. I really needed a phone that wasn't mine so I could use to hack security." He dropped the phone to the floor, letting it clatter.

"And then what?" Anna questioned. "You take the crown and help your brother's company?"

At this, Hans actually laughed. "You think I care about the damn company?" he said incredulously. "No, I don't! My family is nothing but idiots. Except me. With the money I get for taking the crown, I'll be free of them for the rest of my life. Too bad you won't live yours."

He raised the sword as if to strike, making Anna flinch and duck her head. But suddenly, Hans let out a yell as an animalistic screech pierced the air. She looked up to see Hans fight against something black as it clawed at his face, making him bleed alongside his cheek. He threw Toothless down and the cat hissed upon landing.

Anna didn't hesitate. She ran forward to pick up her phone, sucking under Hans' grab. Once she steadied herself and ran to the exit of the room, she called out, "Help! Help, there's a man trying to kill me!"

She turned her head to see Toothless running after her, Hans not far behind with the sword and crown in hand. She looked back forward and entered the room with the animals, jumping over the ropes and entering the fake foliage to hide. Her hair might give her away, but at least she'd be blended with her black blouse and green dress.

She ducked down and listened as Hans entered the room, looking around wearily. He eventually left the room, his footsteps fading away.

She dialled 911 on her phone, waiting in silent breath as the person on the other end answered, asking for what sort of emergency she had.

"I'm in the Museum of History, hiding from a man I caught trying to steal one of the objects on display," she said quickly and quietly. "Please hurry, he already tried to kill me and– ahh!" She squealed when Hans suddenly whirled back into the room, throwing the sword in her direction. She barely had enough time to duck out of the way, moving to escape in the opposite direction.

Pushing past the plastic branches and leaves, leaving some snapped on the ground, she ran past the displayed stone jaguar at the same time the sword was swung, resulting in its head being chopped off and falling to be ground.

Toothless burst into a jump from one of the taller displayed animals, landing on Hans' back and throwing his attack off. He was thrown off as Anna ran past him in a scream. She picked up the fallen cat and hugged him close to her as she ran out of the room, moving past the hallways and down the flight of stairs. Her throat was on fire and her head was pounding, but she didn't stop until she reached the main hallway, where a small group of people were gathered to exit the museum.

"Excuse me, sir! Sir!" Anna called a security guards attention. "I saw someone stealing one of the displays from upstairs. He just tried to kill me!"

"What?" The man looked from her to the end of the hallway. "Hey, you!"

Anna turned to see Hans with the crown and sword in hand. His desperation to keep Anna silent seemed to make him forget there were still people inside. The security guard ran after him, speaking into his radio as Hans also ran off.

Anna sighed as she was guided outside, where the police had already arrived. She kept Toothless close to her as she answered a policeman's questions about what she experienced. The kicker was when Hans was dragged out of the museum in cuff, screaming obscenities to herself and those arresting him.

"Anna!" Elsa came through the barricade where the police were holding back onlookers. She ran to her sister's side and sat next to her on the bench. "Oh, my god, Anna! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Els," Anna promised. "And I'm sorry. For not listening to you, I mean."

"I'm sorry, too," Elsa said. She sniffed, tears falling from her eyes. "It's my job to protect you."

"Don't worry. Mom and Dad will be back in a few days and you won't have to worry anymore." She repositioned Toothless in her arms, who was purring slightly.

Elsa shook her head. "No... No they won't."

Anna frowned. "What do you mean?"

Elsa sniffed again, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "Anna... something happened. I got a call after what happened in the cafe. Their plane... they were coming back early and..." She hesitated to speak anymore. "Their plane crashed. Th-they didn't make it."

* * *

 _"Mr. Haddock? Hello, sir. We have some good news for you. Your son is awake. He's been asking for you and his friends for some time now. Come by whenever it's convenient for you, sir. However, I feel I should warn you. He's still delirious and is... unaware of his condition."_

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **I'll be honest, I forgot I had a story going on, it wasn't until I a week had already gone by which is about as much time to wait between chapters that I realized I hadn't begun the next one. In a frenzy that reflects the story, I wrote this chapter up. And I have to say, I think it's good how it ended up. There was more detail that I had to add, but overall it went well and how I wanted it to be.**

 **Word Count: 3094**

 ** _~CoronaCrown~_**


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